Conservation Commission

Minutes of the Taunton Conservation Commission May 22, 2023 Present: Chair Steven Turner, Commissioners Debra Botellio, Joshua Borden, Richard Enos, Luis Freitas, & Jan Rego. Commissioner Matthew Haggerty absent. Conservation Agent, Michele Restino & Recording Secretary, Denise Irving also present. Motion to approve the minutes of April 10, 2023 and May 1, 2023 JB, second JR, so voted. DB stated ok with April approval, was not present at May meeting. Motion to go into Executive Session JB, second DB, so voted. Motion to come out of Executive Session DB, second JB, so voted. One Motion made, Roll call vote to return to regular order of business. VIOLATION: 27 BLINN’S COURT- John DeSousa, Northcounty Group & Mike Binda, Owner, present. JD gave update. Will be removing pipes, cleaning up the site & paying a monetary violation fee. May 26, 2023 DEP will send decision that must be recorded and then work can continue. JD: can MR sign off on the Building Permit for Lot 1? MR: I can sign off but you go into risk if you violate the Enforcement Order. JD: Once recorded we can do the work. ST: How long do you think the cleanup will take? MB: No longer than a week. JB: No work until its cleaned up and then MR can sign the building permit seeing as it will only take a week. LF: It must be recorded by 5/26/23. JD: we just need a sign off for the building permit. LF: We are just authorizing the sign off of the building permit. MB: no work will be done until settled with DEP. Motion to allow the signing of the building permit and whatever you submit to DEP must also be submitted to us. RE, second DB, so voted. Motion to go out of order JB, second DB, so voted. VIOLATION: 1. 3 Clay Street – Dangerie Pierre & Gerald Christophe, home owners present. DP: bought the house in July 2022 and needed to clean up the yard. They met with MR to find out what they could clean up. There was lots of trash, wanted to do a fence, remove fallen trees. Felt it was not safe area for their children. ST: what’s this big cleaned up area? DP: bamboo ST: it’s all scraped DP: it’s still coming up. DB: how close is the pond to this? MR: just a berm and then the pond, maybe close to 25’ to the pond. DB: when you bought the property you knew it was there but you can’t destroy wetlands. DP: I’m just cleaning it up to keep my children safe. DB: Conservation has a 25’ buffer zone and you must comply. MR: homeowner wants to level the front lawn also, I’d recommend plastic sheeting and soil. DB: will filling this in drain to others property? MR: no LF: MR should meet with them to make this work. Tell them exactly what to do so there is no further violation. DB feels they should file for a NOI for the work. ST: MR can go over this with you and give you some direction. DB: do we need a NOI to have something enforceable? ST: that’s a valid point. Motion to remove violation & put up fence with in the 25’ buffer, fence 10’ in only and then 15’ in a conservation mix and let it go back to conservation status then MR doesn’t have to keep going back and checking it. JB, second LF, ST voted yes, RE & DB vote no, motion carries. CONTINUED VIOLATION: 1. 16 Park Street – Scott Carter, 50 Washington Associates, present. SC: original wattle installed but over the winter it deteriorated and was replaced in April. LF: when are you removing the big mounds of dirt? Concerns for going into the river. SC: The big mounds are just dirt, there is a small pile in back that is covered and has contamination. Working on getting the dirt removed but it will cost approximately a quarter million dollars & must be removed all at once. Motion to remove the violation and work with MR, DB, second RE so voted. Return to regular order of business DB, RE, so voted CONTINUED CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE: 1. 162 Dunbar Street, Gallant, COC, SE73-3013-to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second RE, so voted. 2. 890 Glebe Street, Old Beach Investments, LLC, COC, SE73-2928-to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second JB, so voted. 3. 38 Winthrop Street, Bastis, COC, SE73-2982 -to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second RE, so voted. 4. 1404 Cohannet Street, Ferreira Development Group, LLC, COC, SE 73-2953 -to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second JB, so voted. 5. 1414 Cohannet Street, Ferreira Development Group, LLC, COC, SE 73-2954 -to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second JB, so voted. CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE: 1. 396 Berkley Street, Gaspar, COC, SE73-2687 -to close out Order of Conditions. Motion to approve the Certificate of Compliance DB, second JB, so voted. OTHER BUSINESS: 1. Bunk Pond – Letter received and read into the record voicing concerns for the Bunk Pond area. ST: Safety Officer Chaves has received complaints also and will work with him. The parties in that area need to be closed down. Many party goers are coming in from neighboring states. Police are trying to do their best to enforce. DB feels they are parking on 495 and coming in that way. Need better signage & fence needs to be repaired from the 495 area. Afraid someone will get hurt. Motion to ask DPW to contact the state to repair fence on the 495 side DB, second JR, so voted. 2. Stipends for Boards & Commissions – JB would like for the Commission stipend to be the same as the ZBA & PB. Feels all Boards/Commissions should be paid the same. Motion for a letter to be written stating this request JB, second LF, so voted. Motion to adjourn 7:35pm pending all signatures on paperwork JB, second DB, so voted.